Justice Flowing In Flint

Attorney General Bill Schuette as expected announced the first indictments Wednesday as three people were formally charged for the first time in the Flint water fiasco. There are expected to be many more people held accountable for the contamination of the cities water supply with high lead levels in the days and weeks to come.

The charges were authorized in Genesee County by District Judge Tracy Collier-Nix and announced by the AG.

Those charged with some very serious crimes in the case were Flint employee Michael Glasgow. Glasgow who is 40 was charged with tampering with evidence by falsifying reports in correspondence with state officials and also willful neglect of duty. If convicted he is facing 5 years in prison and $6000 in fines.

Two employees of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality were also charged in the crisis which left Flint’s water supply poisoned with toxic amounts of lead. In some cases the amount of lead in the drinking water was hundreds of times over acceptable levels.

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employee Stephen Busch who is 40 is facing five charges in the case including misconduct in office, tampering with evidence and violating the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act. If convicted Glasgow could spend the next 15 years in prison and face $35,000 in fines. Michael Prysby, who also worked for the MDEQ is facing the most charges with six so far including misconduct in office and violating the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act by altering results in lead testing of Flint homes according to the Attorney General. If convicted, Prysby is facing up to 20 years behind bars and a whopping $45,000 in fines.

Bill Schuette had no sympathy in announcing the charges and said all three “had a duty to protect the health of families and citizens of Flint.”

“They failed”, he said and then added that more arrests and prosecutions in the case are very likely in the near future.